Effects of Exogenous Phenolic Acids on Allelopathy of Potted Soybean Seedlings

In this study, several general y reported exogenous phenolic acids were selected as regents for potting experiments, aiming at revealing the effects of differ-ent concentrations of exogenous phenolic acids on the growth and development of soybean seedlings. The growth and development indicators of soybean seedlings treated with five different concentrations of exogenous phenolic acids, such as plant height, leaf area, root nodule number and root-shoot ratio, were determined and compared. According to the experimental results, three exogenous phenolic acids with different concentrations exhibited slight effects on plant height of potted soy-bean seedlings. The leaf area of potted soybean seedlings treated with 1.0 g/kg benzoic acid and cinnamic acid varied extremely significantly compared with the control. Root nodule number of potted soybean seedlings treated with 1.0 g/kg ben-zoic acid and vanil ic acid increased remarkably, but 1.0 g/kg cinnamic acid had lit-tle effects on root nodule number. When the concentration of phenolic acids was 1.0 g/kg, three phenolic acids exhibited the maximum effects on root-shoot ratio of potted soybean seedlings. Overal , low concentrations of exogenous phenolic acids exhibited no significant effects on the growth and development of potted soybean seedlings; high concentrations of exogenous phenolic acids inhibited the growth and development of potted soybean shoots, increased root nodule number and improved root-shoot ratio.